The U.S. Government Documents and Maps collection located on the ground floor of the Bailey/Howe Library is a treasure trove containing a wide array of materials from Congress, all of the federal agencies, and the federal courts. We asked library faculty and staff what Bailey/Howe Government Document users were looking for and what they should be looking at, and they provided us with a list of their top ten (plus one!) great government information sources:

Census data through 2000 presented in map format.

The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. The series, which is produced by the State Department’s Office of the Historian, began in 1861 and now comprises more than 350 individual volumes.

The handbook provides information on hundreds of different jobs, as well as job search tips, and information on each state’s job market.

“The site will include information about Federal grant awards and contracts as well as formula grant allocations. Federal agencies will provide data on how they are using the money, and eventually, prime recipients of Federal funding will provide information on how they are using their Federal funds.”

“The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Use the Abstract as a convenient volume for statistical reference, and as a guide to sources of more information both in print and on the Web. Sources of data include the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and many other Federal agencies and private organizations.”

The United States Government Manual is the official handbook of the Federal Government and provides detailed information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. It also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees.

This medical textbook was jointly published in July of 2007 by the United States Army and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Borden Institute. It contains 83 case studies, describing the unique conditions and treatments of military and civilian injuries in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The graphic photographs accompanying the studies proved controversial—the Army struggled to keep the book from the general public for some time. As the first work of its kind to be published while the wars it studies continue, it serves as both a lesson in how to treat wounds in the war environment and a chilling document of human casualties.

“The average Joe Surgeon, civilian or military, has never seen this stuff,” author Dr. Lounsbury [a University of Vermont College of Medicine alumnus] told The New York Times. “Yeah, they’ve seen guys shot in the chest. But the kind of ferocious blast, burn and penetrating trauma that’s part of the modern I.E.D. wound is like nothing they’ve seen, even in a Manhattan emergency room. It’s a shocking, heart-stopping, eye-opening kind of thing. And they need to see this on the plane before they get there, because there’s a learning curve to this.”

In The New York Review of Books, Sue M. Halpern wrote, “These pictures, which were taken by doctors in the field with personal digital cameras, were not intended for publication. Though in most instances they are gruesome, they are not prurient. Nor are they editorial. Unfiltered, they are instructive, not only to those who may someday find themselves working in a MASH unit, but also to those of us who, like it or not, send them there to do that work.”

A comprehensive handbook on the seeds of trees and shrubs.

A reference source produced by the Central Intelligence Agency for U. S. government officials, which contains information about the countries of the world. It is an excellent resource for learning more about any nation, with details about a country’s economy, government, landscape, and people. 2008 saw the last printed volume; it is now available online and updated every two weeks.

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